Thank you to The Awesome Foundation SF for funding Tangible Possibility!
Name tags, badges, and match cards.
Stickers let people display their relationship preferences and availabilities on their name tags.
Cotton sacks to keep cell phones from distracting us. Balloons to inflate and let fly around the room, to break the initial awkwardness!
Write a childhood memory, fold it into a paper airplane, and toss it around to share your story with others.
Example paper airplane story.
Reading someone else's childhood story.
Live text messaging on white boards. Invitations and responses to "cool date ideas".
Example date invitation and response.
Supplies for drawing our dream homes to share with each other.
Sharing (and renovating) each other's dream homes.
Dream homes.
Jelly bean barter activity.
"I'll trade you this lime jelly bean, for that licorice one."
Interpreting ink blots. What do you see?
People making new friends, colleagues, and romantic possibilities!
Match card at the end of the night.
Tangible Possibility Speed “Dating”
Play your way to new people.
Dating can be such a drag, especially for introverts like me, so I designed a get-to-know-you event that was pretty much my dream way to meet new people. And it worked! Attendees were greeted by a friendly, light-hearted structure designed to draw out the true self and reveal a bit of it to everyone in the room. No one had to fall back on boring default questions like “where are you from?” They were too busy engaging in creative, tactile experiences like making “imaginary” business cards, interpreting Rorschach ink blots in pairs, and throwing paper airplanes that held childhood memories. Tangible Possibility began with a ceremonious confiscation of cell phones, and ended with people receiving their “matches” — new friends, colleagues, or romantic interests — a few days later. See the image gallery and captions for details.
